''Apogon dovii'', also known by its common name tailspot cardinalfish, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

from the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

Apogon ''Apogon'' is a large genus of fish in the family ''Apogonidae'', the cardinalfishes. They are among the most common fish on coral reefs. Over 200 species have been classified in genus ''Apogon'' as members of several subgenera. Some of these sub ...

''. The species was originally described by

Albert Günther Albert Karl Ludwig Gotthilf Günther Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS, also Albert Charles Lewis Gotthilf Günther (3 October 1830 – 1 February 1914), was a German-born British zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. Günther is ranked th ...

in 1861.

Description

''A. dovii'' is a red fish with large black spot at the base of the tail fin. It can grow up to in length. The height of the body is one-third of the total length and the length of the head is two-fifths of the total length. It has eyes of which the diameter is more than one-third of the length of the head.

Look-a-like

Despite differences in range does the ''A. dovii'' looks very similar to the ''

Apogon imberbis ''Apogon imberbis'', the cardinalfish, the Mediterranean cardinalfish or king of the mullets, is a species of ray-finned fish, a cardinalfish belonging to the family Apogonidae. It is widely distributed in the Mediterranean and along the warm te ...

'', to the extent that

suggested considering them the same when he originally described the species.

Range

The species has been observed from

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

References

Taxa named by Albert Günther Fish described in 1861 Fish of Mexico Fish of Panama dovii {{kurtiformes-stub